As more and more functionality and processing power is packed into printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs), less and less room is available to the design engineer for cable routing. The space that is available may lead to a counter-intuitive cable path, which would cause problems with the board assembly.
Prior approaches to solving the problem of cable routing on a PCBA normally fall into two distinct categories based on their attachment method: mechanical or adhesive. However, prior solutions impose their own design requirements, such as a specific board thickness or specific mounting hole size or shape (mechanical attachment approaches) or a specific amount of dedicated space on the PCBA (both mechanical and adhesive approaches). Adhesive approaches also suffer from a service-life aspect. The adhesive is bonded to a backing material, typically foam, which deteriorates over time. It is very difficult to estimate the degradation time and often expensive and time-consuming testing is required to determine how the adhesive attachment will age under given operating conditions.